Eroski to sell six Sabeco supermarkets
Eroski supermarket group have agreed (in principle) to sell six stores of the Sabeco chain to Auchan, who operate Alcampo, amongst others. The stores are located in Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real and Toledo. The chain is also intending to purchase new stores in the Basque area of RenterÃa (Guipúzcoa).
The preliminary agreement is pending formalities, including the authorization of the National Competition Commission (CNC), to which both groups reported the transaction on August 6, according to the records of the agency.
The CNC has one month to allow the operation in a first phase or, alternatively has two months to prepare a report.
With this operation, Eroski continues its plan of diversity. Following the recently agreed sale of five Hiber Supermarkets located in Madrid and the closing of their ‘Sale and Leaseback’ property of its logistics platform Saragossa to international real estate fund.
With a turnover of 9.013 million euros in 2008, the company headed by Constan Dacosta has a network of nearly 2440 commercial establishments, including hypermarkets, Eroski supermarkets, Eroski City, Caprabo, travel offices, gas stations, convenience stores, Forum Sport stores, IF perfumeries, Abac leisure centres and 27 other outlets.
For its part, Sabeco had a turnover of 1.062 million euro in 2008 and ended the year with a network of 126 establishments operating under the banners Sabeco, Simply Market, Simply City, HiperSimply and 7d.
Eroski was founded in the Basque Country in 1969, is now owned by some 20.000 workers throughout Spain. The name is a contraction of the Basque words in “erosi” (to buy) and “toki” (place), which translates as “place to buy.”
Auchan is a finance and distribution group whose first store was opened in Roubaix France in 1961 by Gérard Mulliez in an abandoned factory of 600 m² in the district of Hauts Champs. Today, Auchan is one of the largest distribution groups in the world. Is present in 12 countries and has 209,000 employees, 478 hypermarkets, 735 supermarkets, 2027 small stores worldwide, and 123 hypermarkets in France. Its turnover was close to 39,5 billion euro in 2008.
